Legendary boxer Evander ‘The Real Deal’ Holyfield, who is the only man ever to win the World Heavyweight Title Five Times (Muhammad Ali won it thrice) and the only man ever to defeat Mike Tyson twice, is set to “knock out” the Indian fitness industry by creating revolutionary, all-encompassing 360 degree fitness concepts and products in India.
Holyfield’s concept will include a chain of high-performance designer gyms, innovative corporate sport-entertainment concepts like white collar boxing, fitness mobile phone applications, boxing academies and health cafes. “Over the next 36 months we anticipate rolling out at least 3 flagship Evander Holyfield Gyms, 6 of the smaller Holyfield Corners and 4 Holyfield Boxing Academies across India, generating annual top line revenues of between $12million to $15million” says Darpan Sanghvi, MD Sanghvi Brands, which has the exclusive partnership with Evander Holyfield to develop Holyfield Gyms, Fitness & Sports products and concepts in India.

‘With a population so young, it is extremely exciting for me to be able to share my expertise and experience in fitness and make a difference in the lives of this young generation,” said Holyfield “The idea is to create a holistic fitness experience which starts at the Gyms and continues into one’s home and work place.”

The fitness experience will revolve around high-performance Designer Gyms that will be designed by Evander. Set in a cutting edge design environment, Holyfield will create exclusive high performance fitness programs and train the instructors and staff at the Gym who will then impart these workout programs to members.

The World Champ also will inspire the Gym members by interacting personally with them via video conferencing over giant screens and occasional personal visits to the Gyms. These Gyms will be created in multiple formats, ranging from flagship 20,000 square feet complete Evander Holyfield Gyms to the smaller 4,000 square feet Holyfield Corners. The Gyms will be located inside Five Star Hotels, high end residential projects, upscale Malls and Corporate Offices.

To take the fitness experience into the offices, Evander is creating the Holyfield White Collar Boxing Club. A corporate Sport – Entertainment concept whereby managers and executives will have the opportunity to get trained in boxing at their offices and then make the fitness experience fun and competitive by taking on rivals and colleagues from other companies in ‘Black Tie Fight Nights’. Boardroom duels will now be settled in the Ring!

To ensure the fitness journey continues beyond the Gym and into every aspect of an individual’s daily life, Evander is creating experiential mobile phone applications that will measure a users’ daily physical activity and give corresponding recommendations on diet and fitness activities for the day. The application will also feature games that promote physical activity by giving users an opportunity to recreate the actual boxing sequences of the different rounds of Evander’s legendary victories over boxers like Mike Tyson, Riddick Bowe, George Foreman and many others.

To promote the sport of Boxing, Evander will also create boxing academies across India. The academies will be present within the Evander Holyfield Gyms, in stand-alone formats and in schools for children. Just like the Gyms, the training programs and training for the coaches will come from Evander himself.

Mr. Sanghvi further adds, “In this crowded fitness space, the greatest differentiator and value addition we can give to the Indian consumer would be a holistic fitness experience and exclusive work-out programs created by one of the greatest Fitness & Sport personalities of all times. At the age of 47, Evander is as fit as he ever has been and serves as a perfect role model for fitness and longevity”

“By far, Evander Holyfield has been at the forefront of physical fitness in the boxing game since his days as an Olympian,” says Ben Sturner, CEO Leverage Agency, which is the marketing Agent for Evander Holyfield and which negotiated and executed Evander’s entry into India. “Evander Holyfield is an iconic global brand, who is loved and adored around the world. The Evander Holyfield Gyms are a natural extension of Evander’s dedication to physical fitness throughout his life. And the expansion of his brand into a rapidly developing India market is a natural fit, as this is an indicator of more to come.”

About Sanghvi Brands

Sanghvi Brands is creating India’s first and most comprehensive portfolio of international wellness brands. These include world leaders in Spas and Grooming Ateliers, Gyms and Fitness, Sports Education and Health Food. In July 2010, Sanghvi Brands announced it is launching Spa L’Occitane in India with 3 luxurious Spas; one at the award winning Devi Garh Palace in Udaipur, a 20,000 sqft Spa at the upcoming Devi Ratn Resort in Jaipur and another at Rasa Resorts which is a 40 luxury tent property with 40 private Spa pavilions bordering the 400 year old Amer fort wall outside of Jaipur.

Evander Holyfield is the second brand that Sanghvi Brands has announced it is bringing to India. By the end of Q4 2010, Sanghvi Brands will unveil its complete portfolio of brands.

ABOUT LEVERAGE AGENCY, LLC

Based in New York City with offices in Los Angeles, Washington D.C. and Beijing, the Leverage Agency is a premier sports and entertainment marketing firm and sales and sponsorship agency focused on maximizing clients’ revenues and return-on-investment through brand integration. Leverage specializes in building effective partnership activation programs for a wide range of sports, media and entertainment clients and Fortune 500 brands. For more information, visit: www.leverageagency.com.